Stringing pianos



(No ModeI.)

H. P. BROWN.

' Stringing Pianos. No. 240,573. Pate nted April 26,1881.

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hLPETERS, PHOTQLITHOGRAPHEFL WASNVNGTON 0 c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT 1?. BROWN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

STRINGING PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 240,573, dated April 26, 1881.

Application filed November 9, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERBERT PARISH BROWN, of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have made certain Improvements in Methods of Securing the Strings to the Sounding-Board Bridgesin Piano-Fortes, &c., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the stringing of piano-fortes; and it consists in forminga concave channel in the upper surface of the bridge,

into which the strings are bent, and held by T-headed pins inclined or beveled upward and toward the center on the under side, whereby the strain is removed from the sounding-board and any tendency of the strings to become detached from the bridge by the action of the hammers prevented, as hereinafter set forth. I attain these objects by the use of the mechanism illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan View of a portion of the frame,the sounding-board, bridge, and a few of the strings of a piano-forte, showing the manner of applying my invention thereto. Fig. II is a plan View, and Fig. III is a sectional side view, enlarged, of a portion of the frame, sounding board, bridge, and a few of the strings of a piano-forte, showing the details of the arrangements. Fig. IV are detached full-sized views of the T-headed holding-pins. Fig. V is a full-sized reversed perspective view of one of the T-headed pins Fig. VI, a detail View illustrating the ordinary manner of forming the bridge-clasp.

In the ordinary manner of securin g the strings by inclined pins set in the. bridge,- around which the strings pass at a slight angle, as shown in Fig. V1, considerable strain is brought to bear upon the bridge and soundin g-board in the direction of the arrows, which renders it necessary to make the latter much heavier than would be otherwise required, while at the same time the danger constantly exists of breaking the bridge loose from the sounding-board. This arrangement also renders it necessary to incline the strings upward slightly from the frame to the bridge, in order that they may press with some force upon the latter to prevent jarring when struck by the hammers but this arrangement also brings (N0 model.)

a heavy downward strain upon the soundingboard, so that with the ordinary manner of securing the wires two distinct strains are constantly bearing upon the bridge and sounding-boardviz., one horizontallyand one downwardly. Another difficulty with this method of holding the strings is that the slight inclining of the pins is the only power besides the tension to hold the strings downward; hence the action of the hammers, being from beneath, has a tendency to raise the strings upward, and so cause them to run up the pins and produce a jarring tone.

To avoid all these difficulties is the object of my invention, which consists in forming the bridge A of the sounding-board B with a concave or channel along its upper surface, and securing therein T-headed pins b, inclined or beveled upward and toward the center on the under side, beneath whose shoulders the strings (I pass. The lower edges of the shoulders of thesepins will be below the upper corners, c c, of the bridge A, so that when the strings d are passed beneath the shoulders that part of the string above the bridge will be bent downward at an obtuse angle, as shown in Fig. III, by which means the strings are firmly held to the bridge and the strain confined entirely to the T-headed pins and the bridge, and not communicated in any manner to the sound ing-board or the frame 0. By this means, also, the strings are firmly held in contact with the corners c c of the bridge; hence it is not necessary to incline the strings upward over the latter to prevent jarring when struck by the hammers, so that I am enabled to run the strings in straight lines from one edge of the frame 0 to the other, and thus remove all downward strain from the sounding-board. The shoulders of the pins b also prevent the action of the hammers raising the strings upward, as in the ordinary inclined pin-clasp.

The T-headed pins 1) will be secured to the bridge A in any suitable manner, preferably by screwing into it, and will have the lower surface of the shoulders rounded and inclined upward toward the center, so that the strings will not be abraded nor slip off when stretched.

I am aware that agraft'e-pins have been heretofore used having holes through which the strings are passed; but the open-sided T- inclined 0r beveled. upward and toward the center on the under side, whereby the outer and lower corners of the pin-head are below 15 the corners c c of said channel, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT PARISH BROWN.

Witnesses:

O. N. Woonwnnn, LOUIS Fnnsnn. 

